March 28, 2003

 Republicans Proposing 'Third Way Budget Compromise' by Reducing State Mandates 

NASHVILLE--Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) has been working closely with members of the Caucus to spearhead an effort to achieve a fair budget by relieving local governments from state mandates during periods of reduced state funding, if funding for local governments is not restored.

          "We are constitutionally bound to fund certain things at the local level," stated Senator Ramsey.  "We must keep faith with this constitutional requirement.

          "If we reduce funding to local governments, it is only fair that we reduce the mandates state government has placed on them.  We are working hard to identify all the mandates.  By lifting these mandates we will give local government the flexibility necessary to balance their budget without a property tax increase.

          "Without this flexibility, the governor's budget would in effect be mandating a local property tax increase.

"With this being the new governor's first year in office, we do not think that the support is there, at least up to this point, to open up their carefully crafted budget package.  We're not looking for a fight with the governor.

"We look forward to working together with the new administration to find a Third Way which will include an approach to solving the total problem in a reasonable and sensible manner.  Therefore, we have developed details of an amendment that we are having drafted.  That amendment would suspend the state mandate to the extent that the state does not live up to its prior commitments to local governmental funding for constitutionally required state share dollars," continued Senator Ramsey.

"We do not believe it to be the governor's intent to balance the state budget on the backs of local governments.  Nor do we believe the governor, as the former mayor of a large city, wishes to go it alone in shouldering every bit of blame for raising the property taxes in every county and in every city and town in Tennessee.  We believe he sincerely meant what he said in his Inaugural Address and in his Budget Address and we believe that by this Third Way he can keep his budget almost totally intact and still provide the relief needed for local governments."

The National Governor's Association and other organizations have been seeking relief from unfunded and underfunded federal mandates for many years.

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Constitution of the State of Tennessee, Article II, Section 24

No law of general application shall impose increased expenditure requirements on cities or counties unless the General Assembly shall provide that the state share in the cost.

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Lottery Bill Moving Forward Slowly, Surely 

Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1, the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Law, came before the Senate State and Local Government Committee and took some amendments before flying out the door to Calendar Committee on the way to the floor.  Wednesday, however, the bill was rerouted in a temporary setback to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee because of a fiscal impact.

          The basic proposal for setting up the structure for the lottery remained intact with the exception of amendments to raise the retailers' handling rate to 6.5% to encourage greater participation and to forbid both the use of debit cards to purchase tickets and the use of stand-alone machines to sell them.  The sponsor of the bill fought the addition of the amendments to his bill by his committee but he was outvoted.  Having accepted the bill as the will of the committee, he moved to proceed on with the bill.

Silence was the resounding response when a committee member inquired as to whether anyone from the administration would address the legislation as it had been amended in the committee.  With no objections, the consensus of the committee was to go ahead and move the bill forward in its current form.  It passed out unanimously.

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Pro-Business Bill Seeks to Protect and Preserve Pro-Business Environment to Keep Companies 

Senate Bill 200 by Senator Ramsey worked its way around, over and through several obstacles on the floor of the Senate Wednesday and passed out in an 18-10-1 vote to prohibit local governments from requiring a private employer to pay its employees any wage not required to be paid to an employee under state or federal law.  The goal of the bill is to keep companies from fleeing Tennessee due to a confusing jumble of payscales imposed by local governments and which might force payraises elsewhere in the state and drive away business.

          "This is a pro-business bill for a pro-business state," said Senator Ramsey.  "Allowing local governments to set pay would drive business out of Tennessee.  This bill keeps the playing field level across the state and encourages companies to keep jobs here.  This bill helps employees most by continuing the Tennessee tradition of encouraging companies to stay here and to locate here instead of pulling up their tent stakes and moving to other states that are friendlier to business."

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Bills, Bills, Bills

All things considered: As of 11:30 a.m. (CST) Thursday, March 27, the Senate has 2,006 Senate bills filed, while the House has 2,083 bills filed.  Senate Joint Resolutions now number 204; House Joint Resolutions 266; Senate Resolutions 24; and House Resolutions 94.  The Senate has used 24 days and the House has used 21 days of the 90 regular session days allowed every two years under Article II, Section 23 of the Constitution for a regular session. The Senate and the House recessed Thursday and plan to convene in regular session on Monday, March 31, at 5 p.m.

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Senate Floor Actions

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SB 430/HB 610 received the unanimous consent of the full Senate Monday to permit a police officer working as private security to wear the uniform of the officer's primary jurisdiction, if that jurisdiction has authorized and assumed the responsibility for wearing such uniform.

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SB 1901/HB 1719 received the unanimous approval of the full Senate Monday to revise the Residential Lending, Brokerage and Servicing Act with respect to home improvement contractors and other persons who supply materials and render services in the improvement of real property. The bill seeks to solve problems with home improvement loans through contractors by clarifying that a lender may not allow contractors or home improvement contractors to be a co-signer or a guarantor for a mortgage loan for home improvement.

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HB 1251/SB 1509 by Senator Ramsey received the unanimous approval of the full Senate Wednesday to authorize any apprentice auctioneer who is also a broker or affiliate broker to conduct or offer to conduct auctions of real property as long as the auctioneer for whom the apprentice auctioneer is employed for such purposes is on the premises of the property during an auction.  Senator Ramsey is an expert in the industry and is a licensed professional auctioneer.

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SB 1783/HB 1731 received the unanimous approval of the full Senate Wednesday to establish certain policies and procedures pertaining to the grandparent visitation law regarding where suits may be filed when the child's parents were never married.  The final Senate version of the amended bill states that the circuit or chancery court in a child's county of residence is the appropriate court to hear petitions for grandparent visitation rights.

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SB 1887/HB 1943 by Senator Bill Clabough (R-Maryville) received the unanimous approval of the full Senate Wednesday to clean up a law passed last year governing the manufacture and installation of manufactured homes and to exempt financial institutions from the law.

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Senate Joint Resolution 184 passed out of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee and then received the unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to urge passage by Congress of H.R. 720 (Sales Tax Equity Act of 2003) by Representative Brady, et al, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the deduction of state and local sales taxes in lieu of state and local income taxes.  Senate Republican Leader Ben Atchley (R-Knoxville) and Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) are co-sponsors on the bill which includes all leadership. All members were added as sponsors to the bill on the floor.

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SB 812/HB 1483 passed out of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee and then received approval of the Senate in a 29-1 vote Thursday to delete the requirement that qualified public depositories must include a detailed schedule of all securities that are pledged as collateral and a statement of selected financial information in written reports to the Treasurer.

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SB 662/HB 1066, a banking bill, received the unanimous approval of the full Senate Thursday to extend the period of time for disposing of repossessed personal property from six months to one year so as not to force the sale during a downturn in the market, to delete the restriction on check cashing charges held invalid by federal district court, to eliminate safe deposit notice requirement, and to reduce the period of time for acquiring a new bank branch from five years to three years.

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Senate Committee Actions

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SB 1465 by Senator Bill Clabough (R-Maryville) passed out of State and Local Government Committee to remove the requirement that a person must own at least 50 percent fee simple interest in real property when a municipal charter provides for property rights voting in municipal elections and to clarify that no more than two persons can vote based on the ownership of an individual tract of property regardless of the number of property owners.

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SB 434 passed out of Senate State and Local Government Committee to allow retired teachers to accept full-time employment as elected city officials without the loss or suspension of retirement benefits.  However, no additional retirement benefit for employment as a city official would accrue.

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SB 1698 by Senator Mae Beavers passed out of Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee to require armed and unarmed security guards or any person who is required to obtain a license under the "Private Protective Services Licensing and Regulatory Act" to submit to a drug and alcohol screening test prior to employment and prior to renewing a registration card or license with the person being screened paying a $10 fee.  The penalty for a violation would be a Class A misdemeanor.

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SB 1936 passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to authorize, in regard to provisions allowing securities or cash to be substituted for bond to secure a public contract, that the state may accept certificates of deposits and letters of credits from state or national banks whose principal offices are in other states so long as such banks maintain a branch in this state.  The bill applies to public building construction contracts exceed $100,000.

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SB 1938 passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to include third party payors or health insurance entities regulated by the Department of Commerce and Insurance and self-insured entities as entities authorized to share information regarding child immunization records.

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SB 189 passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to remove private protective service contractors from the general contractor law when the private protective service providers are performing functions for which they are certified.

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SB 1507 by Senator Ramsey passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to require the Commissioner of Agriculture, in consultation with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, to calculate the annual amount of agricultural water usage.

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SB 427 passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to provide that, if a county moves into a higher population classification based upon a subsequent census, the salary of a general sessions judge shall be determined by the salary of the higher classification for the remainder of that term but shall be no less than the present salary.

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SB 1750 passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to require a presiding general sessions criminal judge of any county which appoints judicial commissioners to establish the qualifications and training necessary for the person to be appointed as a judicial commissioner.

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SB 1501 by Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to clarify that a criminal history records check for persons working with children will include a check conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) along with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and to clarify that the FBI will be reimbursed for the cost of the check in same manner as the TBI.

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SB 1500 by Senator Crowe passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to require a person applying to work or volunteer with children to submit fingerprint samples to the TBI and the FBI.

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SB 283 by Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to list gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) as a Schedule I substance instead of a Schedule IV substance and FDA-approved GHB as a Schedule III substance.  The bill also penalizes the illicit use of FDA-approved GHB within the sentencing provisions of Schedule I offenses.  GHB has been used as a date-rape drug.

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SB 377 by Senator McNally passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to bump up a violation involving the manufacture, delivery, sale or possession of methamphetamine one classification if any one of the following conditions are met: a firearm is found on the premises; possession, transportation, or disposal of materials involved in the manufacture of an illegal controlled substance that created a substantial risk to human health or safety or danger to the environment; a person under 13 was present during the manufacturing process; or the manufacturing of an illegal controlled substance was to occur or did occur within 500 feet of a residence, business, church, or school.  Senator Curtis Person (R-Memphis) co-sponsors the bill.

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SB 606 by Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to add to the list of enhancement factors for sentencing those offenses which involve a defendant who knowingly discharges a firearm from a vehicle and strikes another person outside the vehicle causing bodily injury.  This bill will toughen the penalty against criminals involved in drive-by shootings.

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SB 787 by Senator Person passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to prohibit a non-supporting parent under a court order requiring payment of support who intentionally refuses or neglects to pay child support for a two-year period from recovering monetary damages under Tennessee Wrongful Death Act for the wrongful death of the child.   The bill also applies to a person who fails to contact under court-ordered visitation.

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SB 1567 by Senator Jeff Miller (R-Cleveland) passed out of Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee to authorize the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission to permit licensed trappers to release small game animals, including in counties contiguous to the counties where the animals were trapped.  Current law only allows a trap-and-destroy policy and prohibits trap and release.  The bill also increases the fine for a Class B misdemeanor violation from a maximum of $50 to a maximum of $1,000 for illegally taking, possessing or destroying wildlife.

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